Address—Doug Buchanan
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Let's open our meeting with him #230.
2300 Lord, when we the path retrace, which thou on earth has trod to man, Thy wondrous love and grace, thy faithfulness to God.
Verse five. We wonder at thy lowly mind, and fain would like thee be, And all our rest and pleasure find and learning Lord of thee.
230.
Oh Lord.
We wander I.
I am the Lord.
I am afraid.
And by the earth.
And.
She always looked up.
There's a verse in Hebrews chapter seven I would like to read as an introduction to our subject.
Hebrews, Chapter 7.
And verse.
26.
Speaking of the Lord Jesus ascended man, our High Priest.
00:05:06
For such and high Priest became us who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
I would like to take these things in this mentioned in this verse.
Concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, and though we know it applies to Him now exalted in glory.
To consider a portion in the Gospels.
Of how he manifested that when he was here on earth.
As he ministered.
As a man, he came so near to us.
In our need.
So accessible.
To all.
And yet.
So holy.
So harmless.
So undefiled.
Separate from sinners.
This is the situation that we're in now in the world.
God has chosen us to be his people. They rejected the Lord Jesus. God took him out of this world.
But he sent the Spirit of God down.
To unite a people together in one body. To him, we are part of that people. We are his representatives here on earth. He was the author and finisher of faith. We follow on. He's left us an example.
An example of perfection in this.
And as we go out into the world.
We find the same elements that he faced when he was here on Earth.
And oftentimes, we have difficulty knowing how to meet.
The situation.
How to be balanced?
In accessibleness and nearness.
And yet holy and separate.
These are real issues.
And we're not going to give you.
The answers to all questions, but there are principles in the word of God that would help us.
And I would like to read in the 4th chapter of John's gospel how the Lord Jesus met the woman of Sycar.
As he sat there on that well.
We're going to read a part of that portion.
And then we're going to compare it or contrast it to.
The life of Samson.
Because I believe in Samson.
We see God's provision for one in the Old Testament.
To be separated.
Serviceable to give deliverance to Israel.
Who were in ******* to the Philistines?
This involved a man being involved with with a defiled, ungodly people.
Mixing with them.
And giving deliverance.
And we know Samson failed.
But before he failed, God used him wonderfully.
And he had a secret.
And that secret was what gave him power.
Now that's an introduction. Let's turn now to John's Gospel Chapter 4.
00:10:00
Verse one.
John's Gospel chapter 4, verse one. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, though Jesus himself baptized not but his disciples, He left Judea and departed again into Galilee, and he must needs go through Samaria.
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Saikar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the 6th hour.
There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink, for his disciples were gone away into the city to buy meat.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, ask us, drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou was to have asked of him.
And he would have given the living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water?
Art thou greater than our Father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her.
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him.
Shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not, neither come hitherto draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go call thy husband, and come hit her.
The woman answered and said I have no husband.
Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that sittest thou truly.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. You worship. You know not what we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.
For the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a spirit.
And they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit.
And truth, the woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah's cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.
Jesus, death unto her.
I that speak unto thee am he.
Let's just stop there. There's more to the story, but I believe this will suffice to.
The purpose of our considering this subject.
Here we have the blessed Son of God come down from heaven.
Coming near.
To a woman of Samaria, I have been told that it was a custom of the Jews, the religious Pharisees, and so on that they went and they went from some some Judea up to Galilee that they intentionally bypassed and went a long way around to get to Galilee without going through Samaria. Whether that's true or not I do not know. But what we do know is that the Lord Jesus said it must needs pass through.
00:15:03
Samaria and he did not bypass that place.
Even though they were a mixed company, they were not of the true Israelites.
They did not really have a true.
Claim on the blessing from God on the basis.
Of what God had given in the Old Testament, nevertheless.
We see the Lord Jesus.
Passing through that land of Samaria.
And ministering to the need that he.
Encountered here and I believe the Lord Jesus was fulfilling here.
What was promised to?
The children of Joseph by Jacob.
In that he was a fruitful bough, reaching over the wall and being a blessing.
To a bit beyond a barrier that had been erected.
To this woman.
This woman.
Made a certain claim to that well, she said. Our father Jacob gave us that well. She claimed a certain heritage from the Old Testament. Whether right or wrong, she claimed it.
The Lord met her on that ground.
This poor woman was using this well to satisfy a thirst, a natural thirst of her soul, and she wasn't getting good results. She wasn't satisfied.
In a carnal way, she was seeking to satisfy her heart, her soul.
Every day going back to this well.
To find nourishment another day.
Another husband and so on.
We can relate to that in the world that we live.
How many souls are seeking to satisfy their thirst?
What's that claim from God even?
But totally mistaken in the way.
Of approach.
To the satisfaction.
Here the blessed Creator, humbled in manhood.
So near, so humble.
She did not even realize, as most other people did not realize.
Who this was in their presence?
The Lord Jesus met her.
There.
The holy Son of God.
Holiness is the abhorrence of evil and the love.
Of good.
But he did not use His Holiness to despise.
This woman in the condition where she was.
That was the way the normal Jews had been treating the Samaritans. They have no dealings.
Why could Jesus bridge the gap?
Because he was had true holiness.
It wasn't a self-made holiness of his own pride and taking a position of being better than somebody else. Sometimes we can confuse the issues on this point.
God has called us to holiness.
We are not made holy by ourselves.
There are many people who have sought to attain.
Holiness by segregating themselves and going off to a monastery and.
Removing all temptation, as it were. Moving all defilement so they can maintain a holy life.
By themselves, that's not the way to holiness.
00:20:02
For us.
Therefore this wall of separation had been erected between the Samaritans.
And the Jews.
Whether for right or for wrong.
There certainly was a certain rightness. God does not want his people.
To mix with the ungodly.
That's not the answer either.
We have the secret.
In the Lord Jesus.
Harmless.
He.
No ill feelings, no putting down, no hurting.
Those who did not maintain the same standard.
That he maintained imperfection.
Says another place. A bruised Reed. Shall he not break? You know, it's pretty easy to look out and see the faults of your brethren. Pretty easy to make pronouncements about it too.
That doesn't help necessarily.
It's a part of our growing up. We noticed that in our little children. We noticed it in the young people. When they're into certain growth stage, they begin to notice something. They call attention to the wrongs of it. It's a part of a natural learning process. The only thing is, we ought to learn to keep our mouth shut when we're learning these things too.
The Lord Jesus says.
Was harmless.
To this woman.
He's been harmless to us, brethren.
He's mad us in spite of our faults.
He's worked with us in patients.
And he would like us to be that way, too.
Undefiled.
Talks to this woman.
About the issues of life.
He brings out of the heart of this woman.
What she had been living.
How can you do that?
And not become defiled.
You know, our minds can go in the gutter pretty easy.
Are we enticed?
This is where we notice a contrast.
In Sampson.
Samson when he went down there to that feast.
He let his heart.
Carry him away.
He became defiled.
And so on. We're not going to read the story of Samson, but I think probably most all of us know it well enough to just refer to it.
There was a similarity with Samson.
God called Samson.
To a life of Nazarite ship.
Israel had sunk down to a low estate. They were in ******* to the Philistines.
God didn't intend the children of Israel to be in that kind of a ******* but that's that's what happens when there's departure from the God of Israel. That's what happens to Christians when there's departure.
Sin gets us starts getting hold little by little, and the little things until.
They become bigger things.
And God in his mercy sometimes raises up a deliverer.
It's happened over and over in the history of Israel. It's happened over and over in the history of Christendom. And we're thankful for it. We're thankful for a revival that brought back a truth that we can appreciate in our day. How dark it was many years ago.
How could God use a man to give deliverance?
Well, we will go back and read just a couple of verses there and judges capture.
12.
00:25:02
Chapter 13.
Judges 13 and verse 3.
And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, Behold, now thou art barren, and bearest not, but thou shalt conceive and bear a son. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine, nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For low thou shalt conceive, bear a son, and no razor shall come on his head.
For the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb.
And he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
Here you have the calling.
It was to the parents.
Of Samson, it started from his birth.
From his conception.
Such a, Such a.
Path of separation.
Is particularly necessary at a time.
Of declension.
And ruin failure. You don't read much about Nazarites in the days of the king of King David or Solomon.
There was much blessing.
But in a time of the judges, in order for God to use a vessel.
In order for a person to have power.
There must be these three things.
No wine.
No defilement.
No razor upon his head.
Now, I'm not going to get off to the meanings of this.
No wine speaks of cutting off of the joys of life.
It's men pursuing joy that oftentimes gets them into trouble.
This woman at the well, seeking to satisfy the thirst of her soul.
Through her husband's many of them.
Letter down the path.
That she chose.
The Lord Jesus and perfection.
Never controlled by the his own will or self.
Satisfaction.
So Samson, in order to have power.
And deliver must be kept separate from that defilement.
And then the last of all was the razor. It's the public testimony of his.
Recognition as being one under an oath.
And these three things gave.
Samson his power to be a deliverer, and as long as he maintained that.
He had strength, he had power, and nobody.
Could overcome him.
This is an example for us. This is the example.
That the Lord Jesus gave us in a slightly different way with Samson. It was a physical separation from those things.
With the Lord Jesus, it was a moral separation from those things, and so it is for us today.
To be separated unto the Lord.
And that's why it wasn't just a physical separation at the Lord. Jesus could, as it were, bridge a gap or go over a wall in blessing where the Jew was forbidden to go or could not go because of their lack of following the Word of God.
Lest they be defiled, you remember the story about the Good Samaritan.
How that the 1St, the Levi, the priest, and the Levite, they went by the man who had fallen among the thieves, and they passed over on the other side. They couldn't touch that man that that had been defiled, and I was half dead, lest they ruin their own separation to God.
00:30:28
Holier than thou will not cut the cake.
But there was a man who was so separate.
So holy, so harmless he could get.
So near and yet not be defiled. He could touch the ear of a leper or touch the body of a leper and not be defiled because his touch brought healing.
We as we go out into the world.
We are called to do these things too, the Lord told his disciples in the.
17th of John. Now let's go over and read this. We're getting just a little bit ahead of ourselves, but.
I'm going to go ahead and read these verses now.
In John 17.
When the Lord Jesus was about to leave this world.
And he had kept his disciples faithfully all his earthly pathway.
He was about to go back to the Father by way of the cross, death and resurrection.
And he was preparing his disciples for the time afterwards, and we have these.
Upper Room Ministry chapters here that conclude in this 17th chapter with his final prayer.
And in this prayer he prays for his disciples.
For the time to follow when he was going to no longer be with them. And it has.
An application for us, all of us, all through this time.
While the Lord Jesus is gone in heaven and we are waiting for him to come back.
And he has set himself apart to care for us while.
He's away and so on.
In the 17th chapter.
Verse 11.
He says. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world.
And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep thru thy no name.
Those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.
While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name.
Those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
And now come I to thee, and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, Even so.
Have I also sent them into the world? And for their sakes, I sanctify myself.
That they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall believe on me through.
Thy word.
Here we have the secret.
Samson also had a secret.
This was between him and the Lord, His secret, His Nazarite ship. The Philistines were not to know this.
00:35:01
Long as he kept his secret.
He had strength and power.
The Lord Jesus perfectly.
Without unfailing, without failing.
Perfectly.
Walked a path.
Of separation and power.
Never was he in a circumstance where.
It got the best of him.
Holy.
Holy.
Harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
This is a very important thing.
For us.
As Christians to realize because we're in an unholy world.
And we've been sent.
Into this world.
Now I have known in my travels as serving the Lord in a few other countries.
I have seen the results.
Of some who have sought to serve the Lord without.
Maintaining this separation from evil.
And when they got into difficult situations, the flesh was weak.
Failure came in. Testimony was ruined.
And an ability to serve the Lord ruined.
We've already spoken about others.
Segregate themselves.
Not mixing with anybody in the world.
It was very popular thing to do in Christendom in the dark ages.
I believe because they failed to see the truth.
Of these verses in John 17, the Lord Jesus has given us in John 17.
The secret?
To preserving ourselves.
In As We Go Into the World.
If there is not, first of all that separation to the Lord.
The realization that you are holy unto the Lord.
You cannot go into the world.
And have a life of power and testimony and strength to give.
Deliverance It is beautiful to see how the Lord Jesus.
Met this woman of Saikar.
Gave deliverance to her, brought her out of the ******* of sin.
Made her comfortable in his presence while doing it. Harmless.
Instead of running away from him to the city, watch out, here's a prophet. He's going to tell you what you're doing wrong.
She goes to the city and says come see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is this not the Christ? The truth of who the Lord Jesus was had got a hold of her soul.
Not only of who he was, but what he was like.
And instead of chasing them away.
Many of them believe too later on, it says.
This is like a true Samson. This is 1 giving deliverance.
Not through the slaying of people, but of giving them life.
Giving them salvation. This is what the world around us needs today too.
It needs deliverance from sin.
But in order to do it, we have to see the secret here.
Sanctify them through thy word.
Thy word is truth.
It is very important for the believer to continually have the scriptures daily before them.
00:40:03
It is a sanctifying power in our lives. It checks us up when our thoughts go astray or our affections get out of line and we get enticed.
Let the word of the Lord.
Have its say in our life. It will control us. It will give us strength. It will give us power in our Christian lives.
It will preserve and keep us. It will honor the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the Lord Jesus, first of all.
In his prayer.
He calls them out of the world.
When we go back into the world, we don't. We don't go back into the world as one of them.
We are in it, but not of it if we do not see this distinction.
If we do not maintain this distinction, there will be no separation, no power to give deliverance.
Lot, for example is an example of one of those.
He lost his testimony.
Abraham lived in communion with God.
He could intercede and do far more than Lot.
Basically, he's the one that got lot delivered.
His intercession.
Is what brought Lot out.
It's not what you and I can do, brethren.
In gospel work and going out.
It's what the Lord can do, and we as servants in obedience.
And if God calls us to something, he gives his own.
The strength and the power.
He sent the disciples out into the world. He said, Go ye into all the world.
It's a mission. It still applies to this day.
First of all, you have to see you're called out of the world, separate from it, sanctified by the word of God.
Maintain that sanctification.
Then it is.
In that place of sanctification.
That is set apart in holiness or cleanness.
That the Lord can send his own as witnesses of himself back into the world.
It also speaks here of a part of the work that the Lord Jesus is doing.
When the Lord Jesus went back to heaven, we've had much about his resurrection here in these meetings. So beautiful a man risen, glorified. When he went back there to heaven, the Father's house.
He didn't go back to go there to sit in a rocking chair and wait till the time the grace was over.
He set himself apart in dedication to a service.
And that's what it means here. I sanctify myself.
He is occupied with the daily needs of his people.
Here on Earth.
Overseeing.
Through the Spirit of God, which is sent down here to give us help and direction and strength.
A wonderful thing.
And that's where what we read in Hebrews really picks up as our high priest.
He dedicated himself to that service of priesthood.
That's the secret.
That's a part of it.
Nothing can happen to the believer.
That is walking in fellowship with him, but what he would allow it for good and blessing.
He's in control.
That's what he said when he sent him out. All power is given me. He is in control.
Sometimes it doesn't look like it.
He can even use the enemy to accomplish.
His purposes? How many stories?
00:45:03
Happen.
Of the Lord using.
Only in obedience.
And maintaining that place of sanctification.
So I like to think of this secret then.
Like Samson had his secret.
His physical separation in those three ways.
Was what gave him power to be a deliverer of the children of Israel so the Lord Jesus.
Exercise the same.
In a moral sense.
And thus not just physical separation.
That's the problem, one of the problems of making rules and regulations.
A brethren or codes of conduct.
They may seem like good restrictions, and don't get me wrong, we're not, we're not turning everything loose here to anybody and doing what they want. No, it's just the contrary to that.
If the Lord Jesus, for example, had followed the normal.
Restrictions that was put upon the Jews. He would have never even gone through this city of Sikar.
Or Samaria.
There but because.
He was walking independence and obedience as a man in the Lord Jesus, and the Lord said to go that way.
He could go that way not fearing the consequences.
But rather having power to give deliverance.
To the woman there at the well.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
That's the Spirit of God. But we're not greater.
Of ourselves than the world, therefore it is very necessary.
For the Christian to maintain that life.
Of moral separation.
And yet if the Lord calls us to a situation.
Where we are near temptation near.
Defilement. Only the person who is maintaining himself.
In holy separation to the Lord can get that close.
Be of help an assistance without becoming.
Defiled. This is a great secret. This is a real help.
And sometimes you feel weak and I don't feel, I don't think that that is wrong of itself.
We are weak. We're not stronger of ourselves than the enemy.
But again.
There is a path of obedience of separation to the Lord.
To him.
And his calling.
Maintaining that we can be.
A deliverer.
The Lord Jesus did that.
To this poor woman, the disciples.
Were marveled that he would talk with her and so on. It seems like it must the.
They were affected by this barrier, this wall.
To well I've enjoyed this as a an example for us.
And how the Lord Jesus could.
Be so close, so near to this woman, and yet so wholly and so separate.
And so instead of like Samson when he got near.
He was enticed and little by little, not the first time.
But little by little, as he gave up his Nazarite ship.
Here little, there little. He began losing his power.
And when the.
One step was taken where they cut his hair and a razor came. He did not even realize that he had lost his strength. But it doesn't say just that he lost his strength. It says he knew not that the Lord had departed from him.
00:50:24
How sad.
The Lord not to forsake him forever. I believe He's in glory. I believe He is a man of faith.
But in that situation.
He had disowned.
His relationship with his God as a Nazarite And how could God be connected?
In power and deliverance, where the source of his strength.
Had been disowned.
He gave up his Nazarite ship. He gave up his separation to the Lord.
May the Lord help us as believers.
To have.
And to see in the Lord Jesus this perfect example.
And to follow his steps without fear.
And yet without compromise.
Well, these are a few thoughts that.
I found helpful.
In connection with our going out into the world, and there is the Lord alone knows young people.
There as you grow up.
You will begin making these decisions on your own. We see in this case of.
Samson that his parents did not understand.
Part of the mission that God had called Samson to.
And yet they did see a danger.
That he go down to a Philistine feast and that he go seek a bride from among that people. That was not right.
That was wrong, plainly wrong on Sampson's part, but God was going to allow it for a 'cause that He wanted, and his Nazarite ship was supposed to be what would keep him.
And if he'd have kept his Nazarite ship, he would have been kept.
That's the situation that we're in.
Our brethren sometimes may not understand what.
God has called us to.
But if the Lord calls us to something we can trust, He has the power to keep us where that may lead us.
But let us not think that we can go out and in front the work, confront the world in our own strength.
We will be overcome.
We're no match for the enemy. The secret is our.
The Christian Nazarite ship. The secret is the word of God.
Daily in our lives to maintain our position as a holy people, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
May the Lord help us then, in these last days. We are.
We are in a very defiled scene. The heart of man really hasn't changed. These things happened of old.
But I believe there's this distinction today.
Like it was in the days of Lot and days of Noah.
It's more openly practiced. It's out there. You can't drive down the street without becoming defiled and looking at the advertisements and so on. You can't open up a magazine or a book without becoming defiled. There's not a place you can go except like in a home or a place like this, and even it's here.
It's a wonderful thing to preserve the little children while they're young from this.
But then there comes a time like Samson.
When he had to go out on his own.
These are the secrets. May the Lord help us to use it. Perhaps we could sing a hymn in closing.
151.
But some other start this for us. We could sing perhaps a different melody than the last one. 151 Lord Jesus, when we think of the of all thy love and grace, our spirits long and fain would see thy beauty face to face.
Thank you.
Privacy.
And your day by spirit state art all the way now.
Little drink and roll.